跳伞时伞坏了怎么办
1
Former army fitness instructor Emile Cilliers has been convicted of trying to murder his wife, Victoria, by tampering with her parachute.
前部队健身教练埃米尔.塞利尔斯被指控试图通过在她的降落伞上捣鬼来谋杀自己的妻子维多利亚。
She survived a 4,000ft fall.
她在下落了4000英尺之后竟然幸存了下来。
But how can a human being do this?
不过她一个人是怎么能做到的呢？
The ground's getting nearer fast.
地面会越来越快地向你靠近。
You pull the cord to open your parachute.
你拉绳子来打开降落伞。
Except, nothing happens.
不过，伞却毫无动静。
Your body's still hurtling towards Earth with only drag - air friction - to slow it down.
你的身体仍然朝地面坠去只有拖拽力—空气阻力—来减缓它。
So you try the emergency back-up parachute - and, once again, it fails.
于是你尝试打开紧急备用伞——不过又一次地，它也没能打开。
The moments between this happening and the skydiver's body hitting the ground - or water - are usually their last.
从这种意外发生后到跳伞者撞击地面—或者水面—这段时间往往会成为他们生命的最后时刻。
But not for Victoria Cilliers.
不过对维多利亚.塞利尔斯来说不是这样的。
The 4,000ft (1,200m) fall caused by her husband tampering with her parachute resulted in several broken bones, but not death.
他丈夫对降落伞搞鬼而导致她下坠4000英尺（1200米）最后只是让她几处骨折，并没有送命。
Hers is far from being the greatest height from which someone has dropped and survived.
不过跟那些下落最高的距离生还的人相比，她的高度还差得远呢。
According to the Guinness Book of World Records, flight attendant Vesna Vulović lived on after she was thrown from a DC-9 at an altitude of 33,333ft (10,160m) in 1972.
据世界吉尼斯纪录记载，空乘服务员维斯娜.维诺维奇于1972年在一架DC-9飞机上从33,333英尺（10,160米）的高度上下落后幸存了下来。
Ulf Björnstig, senior professor of surgery at Sweden's Umeå University, has co-authored several studies on the risks of parachute jumps.
乌尔夫.伯庸斯蒂格是瑞典的优密欧大学的高级教授，他参与了几项关于跳伞下落风险的研究。
He describes the chances of living after an unimpeded fall of several thousand feet as "very small" and says Mrs Cilliers and Ms Vulović are "lucky cases".
他将从几千英尺的高度直接下落的生存几率描述为“非常微小”，还说塞利尔斯夫人和维诺维奇是“幸运儿”。
But after a point, the height from which a person falls won't make a difference to how fast they are going.
不过在超过某个点后，一个人下落的高度对他们下落速度的影响就不大了。
It's estimated that the human body in freefall reaches 99% of its terminal velocity (full and final speed) after dropping 573m (1,880ft), which usually takes 13 to 14 seconds.
据估算人体自由落体运动会在下落573米（1880英尺）后达到最高速度的99%，而这通常会花13到14秒钟。
2
So can a parachuteless skydiver do anything to slow down his or her descent?
那么跳伞者可不可以做点什么来减缓他或者她的下坠呢？
Prof Björnstig thinks so.
伯庸斯蒂格教授认为是可以的。
The final speed reached when "falling flat" - body, hands and arms stretched out as widely as possible - is about 200 km/h (124mph), he says.
在扁平下落—身体，手和胳膊尽可能张开—的时候，最后的速度会达到200公里每小时（124米每秒）左右，他说。
"Trying to increase the speed, such as by diving head-first and minimising the drag, may give a falling speed up to 420 to 430 km/h."
“如果试图加速，例如可以让头部往下下落，然后让阻力最小化，这可以让下落速度增加到420到430公里每小时。”
Even if a skydiver minimises his or her falling speed, what surface is best to land on?
而就算跳伞者让他或者她的下落速度最小化了，哪种表面是最适合着陆的呢？
In 2009, James Boole, from Staffordshire, fell from 6,000ft (1,829m) above Russia.
2009年，来自斯塔福德郡的詹姆斯.布尔，从6000英尺（1829米）的俄罗斯上空落下。
He hit snow, leaving a crater but surviving.
他落在了雪上，留下一个大坑不过幸存了下来。
In 2006, Michael Holmes, a highly experienced skydiver from Jersey, fell two miles (3.2km) when his main and reserve parachutes failed.
2006年，来自新泽西的资深跳伞运动员迈克尔.霍尔姆斯，在他的主伞和备用伞都出故障后下落了2英里（3.2公里）。
He had the good fortune to land on a blackberry bush.
他非常幸运地落在了黑莓丛里。
Mrs Cilliers came down in a ploughed field near Netheravon Airfield, on Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire, breaking her pelvis and ribs and fracturing some vertebrae.
塞利尔斯夫人降落在内泽瑞文机场边的一片耕地上，骨盆，肋骨和脊椎有几处骨折。
The surface has been described as unusually soft.
降落的地面被描述为非常的柔软。
Prof Björnstig says someone reaching terminal velocity needs at least half a metre of give - or deceleration distance - in the surface or object they hit to avoid fatal injuries.
伯庸斯蒂格教授说达到了终极降落速度的人需要至少在降落表面或者他们撞到的物体上半米的缓冲—或者降速距离—来避免致命损伤。
He recommends "forgiving structures", such as snow, a swamp or the branches of a tree.
他推荐的好的降落面是一些“很柔软的结构”例如雪，沼泽或者树枝。
The skydiver has to steer get there first.
跳伞者可以控制方向来优先抵达那里。
This is hard, but it can be done.
这很困难，不过还是可以做到的。
3
To demonstrate, in July 2016, stuntman Luke Aikins did a pre-planned jump with no parachute, landing on a net suspended above the California desert.
为了进行展示，在2016年七月，斯塔特曼.卢克.艾肯斯做了一次设计好的无伞下落，在加利福尼亚沙漠上空实现悬挂好的一张网上着陆。
"It is tiny from 25,000ft," he told NBC's Today programme.
“从25,000英尺的高空看它是非常小的，”他告诉美国国家电台的今日栏目。
"You can't really make out the net. You can see the ground where you need to go. As you start getting closer and lower, you're able to make out landmarks a little better."
“你会感觉看不清网在哪里。你可以看到你需要到达的地面。随着你的高度越来越低，你可以更清楚地看到地标。”
Skydivers adopting the "box position" - lying front-down with legs stretched out and arms and head raised up and forming a "W" shape - are able to move horizontally in the air.
采用“箱式姿势”的跳伞者—俯卧，腿伸开，头部和胳膊往上抬，形成W形—可以在空中水平移动。
They can bank their arms like an aeroplane's wings.
他们可以像飞机翅膀那样展开双臂。
4
"Taking all the factors into account - for example, trying to fly in the direction of a softer landing area (if possible) - may of course have a potential to increase the chance of survival," says Prof Björnstig.
“各种因素都要考虑到—比如说，试图朝更软的地面飞去（如果可能的话）—这样可以增加生还几率，”伯庸斯蒂格教授说。
Finally, there's the last point at which skydivers can do anything to help themselves - on impact.
最后，跳伞者们能够自救的最后一点——关于撞击。
After trying to lie as flat as possible while falling, with arms and legs stretched out to maximise drag, they should turn around to adopt a different position when near the ground.
在下落时试图尽可能躺平，把胳膊和腿张开来使阻力最大化猴，他们在很靠近地面时应该转而采用一种不同的姿势。
"Landing with feet first would be a reasonable tactic," Prof Björnstig says.
“脚先着陆是一种不错的策略，”伯庸斯蒂格教授说。
Skydivers, when their parachutes actually work, are advised to land on the balls of the feet first, rolling to the side.
跳伞者们如果降落伞是有效的，那么建议他们用脚后跟桌底，然后转向侧面。
Another dictum is to keep the legs springy by bending the knees slightly.
另一个技巧就是通过微曲膝盖来让双腿有一定弹性。
But any difference this would make to someone going at 200km/h is debatable.
不过对一个以200公里每小时的速度着陆的人来说这些方法是否有用还存在争议。
Skydiving is a high-adrenalin hobby, and the British Parachute Association describes the risk succinctly.
跳伞是一项让人肾上腺素飙升的爱好，英国跳伞联盟这样简要地对风险进行了描述。
"There is no such thing as a totally safe parachute jump," it says.
“跳伞中没有绝对的安全，”它说。
And about one in 100,000 jumps by fully trained parachutists ends in death.
有100,000名训练有素的跳伞者最后死亡。
Once a parachute fails, nous and experience help survival chances, but luck even more so.
一旦降落伞故障，常识和经验会帮助增加生还几率，不过运气还更重要。
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